little successes!

Normally when I try a new recipe I pair it with something I know I'm not going to screw up.

But tonight I got brave and made, not one, but TWO new things.

(sorry the picture is so unappetizing. i took it with my iPod touch.)

Balsamic chicken with mozzarella and roasted tomatoes. And orzo with parmesan and basil.

The chicken didn't come out quite like I wanted, but I'm pretty happy with the end result. And I know what to do differently next time. Nate ate it and he's taking the leftovers to work tomorrow. And I actually loved the pasta. Definitely making that again. And it took me FORTY minutes total to make it all.

So yep. That's all! Just wanted to share because I was pretty excited!

yummy yummy in my tummy!

I'm only working one job now and my life is once again manageable, so I've been able to start cooking dinner again. And I found this chicken recipe the other day that Nate and I both absolutely LOVE. So I thought I would share it with y'all. Let me know if you try it and what you think! And please be honest! My feelings won't be hurt if you hate it - I promise!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded thin

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, and cook the garlic until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. In a shallow bowl, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Cheddar cheese, parsley, oregano, pepper, and salt.
4. Dip each chicken breast in the garlic butter to coat, then press into the bread crumb mixture. Arrange the coated chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with any remaining butter and top with any remaining bread crumb mixture.
5. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Anyway...enjoy! :)

we eat WAY too many tacos.

I woke up with a headache AGAIN today. And took some medicine, went back to bed and slept in AGAIN today. Now I'm finally up getting things done around the house. And making a yummy Chicken Caesar Salad for lunch. :)

This weekend was pretty good. On Friday, I worked and then came home and fixed tilapia, baked mashed potatoes and salads for dinner. I really could eat seafood everyday. Then on Saturday I worked all day long (from 10 to 5). And Nate ended up driving down to Columbia to help his friend Ben pack up all his stuff because he moved up here to Concord. I spent all Saturday night here by myself watching 90210 and Law and Order SVU reruns until he got home at 10:30. Then on Sunday morning, we went up to Concord to help him unpack all his stuff. After we got home, we went looking at apartments. And we actually found a couple we like - YAY! :) And when we got home we ate dinner. Guess what we had? It starts with a T and ends with ACOS!!!!!! My new favorite, in case you couldn't tell.

We're in seriously bad shape when it comes to groceries right now. No bread, milk, or cheese. No TACO SHELLS. No popsicles. Just to name a few things. But at least we have the things I need for my lunch.

Oh, and here are some more pictures from the Walk Now for Autism Speaks. I didn't do a very good job at documenting it, but Nate's family came and Heidi took some good ones. So I stole these.

The Charlotte Motor Speedway...where the walk was.

Nate jumping.

Nate and Heidi.

Me, Rebecca, Wesley and Nate!

The Pit Stop Challenge!

She was fast!

I was not!

And now it's time for truth number four!

4. Something you have to forgive someone else for.

Hm. You know, I try to make it a habit to forgive others for things they've done to me as soon as I can. Because I really hate harboring resentment against people. And God says that we are to forgive people who do wrong against us "seventy times seven." I didn't always live this way, and I found out pretty quickly that holding grudges can make you a very bitter and angry person. And life just isn't worth living that way. We weren't meant to live life that way. So I really can't think of a single person I have yet to forgive for something. 

And that is all. :)

EDIT: Apparently we are in worse shape as far as groceries go than I thought. And we're out of lettuce. So no salad for me. Just chicken. :(  It's definitely going to be shopping time when I get off work.

recap part two.

Before I finish my recap of the summer, I need to remind everyone that the Carolinas Walk Now for Autism is in TWO WEEKS! And if anyoneeeeee wants to join the team or donate to help us out, it is DEFINITELY not too late. My donation page is here and our team page is here. Thank you very much to everyone who has already helped out! It means more than you could know!

And now for the recap...

We had a yard sale with Nate's family.

Delicious shrimp and scallops with pasta and homemade sauce.

The trip to Florida was our first plane ride together!

Eating the best shrimp ever with Nate's grandparents!

The beautiful beach in Florida.

We saw the creepiest spider...

And manatees! :)

And got to go visit Cara and Miss Brinkley!

Woahhh...it's a double rainbow all the way...

(If you don't get it, go here.)

From the plane ride home.

Jenny and Alexa came to visit! :)

And that's all! Now back to real posts instead of pictures a mile long!

recap.

Now that fall has officially begun and summer is over, I thought I would leave you guys with some pictures and things that didn't get posted in the past couple months due to my busy schedule of driving to Columbia and back everyday. This is going to have to be in two installments because I'm very indecisive and have like a bajillion pictures to share.

Besides Merebeth's wedding, Nate and I had a pretty good, eventful summer. We spent a good bit of time with the family in Columbia. I finished up two more classes (and I'm now taking my LAST one...YAY!). We had family and friends come up to visit. Jenny and Matt came up to go to Carowinds with us. We celebrated the Fourth with our good friends Steph and Ryan. We cooked some pretty delicious new things. And we got to go to Florida for a few days to visit Nate's grandparents and my old roommate, Cara. I got two part-time jobs (which I LOVE)! Abby and Chloe got their first and second summer haircuts. We finally found a good church home. And we spent a lot of time together as a family (and yes, that includes the dogs) at the park, playing tennis and soccer, running, and just exploring Charlotte. We found our way around the area and spent enough time up here that it finally started to feel like home. All in all, I would say we had a very good summer. :)

And now for some pictures from the past few months...

Chloe nakey after her haircut!

Abby even more nakey after her haircut!

We invented a very special, very yummy wing sauce.

Chloe supporting her Gamecocks after they won the World Series this summer!

Watching the fireworks on July 4th!

Graham at the fireworks :)

Steph and Steph :)

We made homemade pizzas. This one has chicken, roasted tomatoes, basil and mozzarella on it.

My first ever attempt at banana bread.

And I'll leave you with an adorable picture of Abigail! :)

family, food and fun!

We're entering our third month up in Charlotte and...

Things are great here! I'm still job-searching, but there have been a few leads. If I'm not teaching, I will hopefully be subbing and possibly doing ABA therapy part time or full time. No matter what, I will have a job very very soon. Because I'm about to go crazy sitting around here without much of a purpose. Nate, on the other hand, has been very busy at work and has all sorts of great things going on! (Makes me look just a little lazy. =P)

We've worked some more on the apartment - getting things organized and arranged. I have to keep rearranging because I keep finding better ways to do things around here so it's a slow process. But it's coming along very nicely! We found a shelving unit for the porch on Craigslist today and now everything out there is in its place as opposed to the giant pile of random crap we had out there before. We have also been working very hard on our tomatoes, herbs and flowers! Well, Nate has more than me. He's been taking such good care of them and they are HUGE! We already have edible herbs (which we are super excited about using to make homemade pizza and spaghetti sauce!) and the tomatoes will hopefully be ready in the next week or so. I'm not sure how long it takes them to get red? And hopefully soon I will have some beautiful blooms to post pictures of as well!

I've been trying to cook dinner every night since I'm home all day and I've had a lot of fun honing my skills! And finding some pretty yummy recipes!

Yummy Chicken Piccata...our new favorite chicken recipe!

Spaghetti Night!

My FAVORITE.

Nate's favorite!

Wings with our special sauce!

We've also had a good bit of visitors recently. Christiana and Heidi (the sisters) came up for the weekend a couple weeks ago. My wonderful friend Meg came up for dinner and to hang out for the evening. And then my other wonderful friend Mary came up to spend the day and we went shopping and laid out by the pool. It was very nice to see some people from home!

Nate and Heidi

Nate and Christiana

I also cut Nate's hair!!!!! I was SO nervous. But I feel like it turned out pretty well.

And of course, we've made a couple trips back home too. One for Nate's mom's birthday and then one this weekend to see the family and because I had class. It was nice to see everyone and to be back in Columbia! It wasn't nice to spend all of my Saturday morning in class during Memorial Day weekend. But at least it's a distance education course and I can do the rest from the comfort of home.

The "cake" I made...chocolate eclaire...YUM!

Our beautiful niece Alexa.

Nate with his beautiful mom...and the flowers we gave her! Don't you want that pitcher?!?! I wish the store had more than one! :(

The hubby and me. :)  And my new haircut!

We've also spent a lot of time exploring Charlotte. We've found some more good restaurants and things to do. And we've found the most AMAZING park. And we're looking for a new church family, which we will hopefully find soon. It's definitely starting to feel more like home here, which is very nice. God has blessed us so much and we really are so grateful for everything that has happened in the past few months.

Our first year anniversary is next weekend! :) And we didn't think we were going to be able to go anywhere, but Nate has to go up to Nashville to work the Monday through Wednesday after our anniversary so we're going to get to head up there a few days early and spend the weekend in Tennessee together before he has to go into the office. So we will get to celebrate with a trip and then I'll get three days of laying out by the hotel pool and shopping! :) Can't wait! Hopefully we will have lots of pictures!

See y'all soon!

Steph and Nate :)